A public workshop provided a review of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Cross Field Taxiway Project at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and an opportunity for the public to ask questions about it.

The workshop was presented Wednesday, October 15th, at the Flight Path Learning Center on Imperial Highway at LAX by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the city agency that operates LAX.

The draft EIR is available to view online by clicking on “Projects — Publications” at ourlax .org/.

Written comments can be submitted by mail to Los Angeles World Airports, Airport and Facilities Planning, attn: Dennis Quilliam, 7301 World Way West, 3rd Floor, Los Angeles 90045-5803 or by e-mail to crossfield project@lawa.org/.

Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. Monday, November 10th.

The Cross Field Taxiway Project would add or relocate airfield facilities, including taxiways, aircraft parking spots and a ground vehicle parking lot; include a new vehicle service road and utility corridor; realign and suppress a portion of World Way West; and construct a new fire station/aircraft rescue and fire-fighting facility.

The proposed improvements would occur within the central portion of the airport, generally west of the Tom Bradley International Terminal and between the north runway complex and the south runway complex.

The following project description is from Los Angeles World Airports documentation.

The proposed LAX Crossfield Taxiway Project is designed to provide improvements to a portion of the existing taxiway system that supports aircraft access between the north runway complex (Runways 06L/24R and 06R/24L) and the south runway complex (07L/25R and 07R/ 25L).

The proposed project would provide a new crossfield taxiway, identified as Taxiway C13, and an associated connection to, and extension of, the existing Taxiway D. A new parallel service road would also be built.

Construction of the proposed improvements would require demolition and potential relocation of certain ancillary and support facilities such as a hangar canopy, a flight kitchen, a maintenance building, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Bomb Squad building, the Los Angeles World Airports Records Retention Building at World Way West and Coast Guard Road and a ground service equipment maintenance facility.

The current activities within these facilities would be moved to other existing buildings local to the area.

To facilitate the construction and operation of this new Taxiway C13, World Way West — accessible from Pershing Drive between Westchester Parkway and Imperial Highway — would need to be realigned and suppressed below grade at the intersection with the new taxiway and the proposed adjacent service road, requiring construction of two bridge facilities (one bridge structure for the new taxiway and one bridge structure of the new adjacent service road).

The new fire station/aircraft rescue and firefighting facility would replace the existing undersized Station No. 80, located adjacent to Taxiway S. Upon completion of the new facility, per- sonnel from the existing facility would be transferred and the old facility used for storage.

Existing “remain overnight” (RON) aircraft parking currently located within the proposed alignment of Taxiway C13 would be resituated to a new location adjacent to Taxiway C13. The future RON area would utilize the area currently used for vehicle parking by American Airlines employees.

Midfield access between the north runway complex and the south runway complex is currently provided by Taxiways Q and S which provide one-way north and south aircraft access respectively. The intersections at the end of Taxiways Q and S, near the Tom Bradley Terminal concourses, currently lack sufficient spacing to allow for efficient movement of aircraft in this area.

This congestion requires that some aircraft hold their positions while other aircraft turn onto or off of Taxiway Q, particularly if there is an airplane at the gate nearest this intersection, resulting in increased delay and aircraft taxi/idle time.

In addition, Group VI aircraft, known as New Large Aircraft (NLA) and including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8, can’t operate on Taxiway Q due to its close proximity to Tom Bradley Terminal.

The proposed project would provide a new crossfield taxiway and other associated improvements to help relieve existing aircraft traffic congestion and reduce delays that periodically occur on the existing crossfield taxiway system and adjacent taxiways.

The extension of Taxiway D would provide access to the new crossfield taxiway to and from the north terminal complex, and without this extension, the only access to the new crossfield taxiway would be via Taxiway E, which is the primary taxiway for arriving aircraft from the north runway complex and primarily operating in an easterly direction.

Construction-related vehicle access and parking for the LAX Crossfield Taxiway Project would be similar to those of the South Airfield Improvements Project (SAIP).

During the construction period of the proposed project, ground traffic (cars, trucks and construction equipment) would enter and exit the project site from the existing construction staging system currently used for the SAIP, located to the west of the project site, at Pershing Drive and World Way West.

The South Airfield Improvements Project contractor parking area located at a site north of LAX Parking Lot B on La Cienega Boulevard, to the east of the project site, would be used for project workers, with a shuttle to transport workers between the parking area and the job site. Delivery and haul routes for the proposed project would occur on the perimeter of the airport, along Imperial Highway, Pershing Drive, Westchester Parkway and Aviation Boulevard.

Los Angeles World Airports conducted a preliminary analysis of the proposed project to determine whether the project may result in any significant impacts on the environment that were not fully addressed in the LAX Master Plan EIR, warranting the preparation of a further, focused environmental impact report.

Environmental topics of particular concern and necessary mitigation measures, which will be the primary focus of the EIR analysis, include:

— traffic generated by the construction and relocation of ancillary facilities;

— air quality from temporary emissions resulting in various pollutants from construction equipment, workers commuting, truck haul delivery trips, surface paving, taxiway striping, replacement parking site for American Airlines employees and other air contaminants;

— surface water quality, such as potential runoff due to grading or other surface disturbance;

— hazardous material waste

— portions of the project site have known or potential subsurface contamination, including but not limited to, the site being considered for replacement parking southeast of World Way West and Taxiway AA, within which an existing groundwater remediation system occurs.

The EIR will address the potential for construction activities to impact or be impacted by potential subsurface contamination and will address the potential for operation of the existing groundwater remediation system to be impacted by the project, airport officials said. Mitigation measures will be recommended as appropriate.

Responses to comments received during the public review period will comprise the final LAX Crossfield Taxiway Project EIR, and the Los Angeles City Council will consider the information in the final EIR and determine the adequacy of the environmental documentation under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA].